What libraries should look like…

Is Scandinavia setting the trend? A story from Germany traces the influence of new thinking about the future of libraries and how they are changing lives.

The article reveals the role libraries and library spaces are playing in learning, and how skills acquired through library social spaces are helping to educate and integrate new immigrants from Syria and other regions.

The award-winning library in the city of Cologne acts as an ‘intercultural meeting point’ with a ‘language room’ where new arrivals can learn and improve basic language skills.

It also houses a ‘maker-space’, a concept developed in US libraries, reflecting the values of the sharing economy.

The article also features a profile of the library and creative centre DOKK1 in Denmark.